Russia is |
Peoples of Russia
Abkhazians
The Abkhazians are the native population of the Republic of Abkhazia. Their self-designation is Apsua.
Language
The Abkhazians speak the Abkhaz language, its dialects are Abzhywa and Bzyb. The Abzhywa dialect served as a basis for the standard language.
Dispersion
The most significant groups of Abkhazians in Russia live in Moscow (3.7 thousand people) and the Moscow region (0.5 thousand people), in the Krasnodar territory (2 thousand people), in Saint Petersburg (0.9 thousand people) and the Rostov region (0.7 thousand people).
Traditional occupations
Farming, distant pasture and grazing cattle breeding; the secondary occupations are beekeeping and hunting. In the 20th century, the Abkhazians learned to grow tobacco, tea and citrus fruit crops. They grow corn and other grain crops, grapes, orchard crops, raise cattle, and in the mountains they raise goats. Their traditional crafts are making agricultural tools, utensils, clothes, metal and horn articles, woodcarving, incrustation, embroidery, weaving.
National costume
The clothes are of the common Caucasian type. For men, a beshmet undertunic, a chokha, tight-fitting pantaloons, a burka cloak, a bashlyk hood, a belt decorated with plates, a papakha hat; for women, a characteristic waisted dress, a belt, a headscarf; unmarried young women wore a fabric corset.
Dwellings
Typical Abkhazian settlements are fairly stretched and devoid of a clear layout; they consist of hamlet-type homesteads distanced from each other. Today it is hard to find an old round wickerwork houses with a hay roof. Since the 19th century, the Abkhazians started building many-room wooden houses raised from the ground on pillars, with a balcony decorated with carving that stretched along the facade. Today, houses are built from stone or bricks, usually they are two-storey houses with many rooms and a terrace.
Food
Hard-boiled corn porridge (abysta), cooked kidney beans, milk and dairy products, in particular, cheeses, goat meat, beef, mutton, poultry meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, honey. Typical for the Abkhazian cuisine are spicy gravies and sauces and the adjika sauce. The alcoholic drinks are dry wine and grape vodka.
